This is more elegant if less expressive with its pretty but discreet aromas of lemon rind, white flowers and pear. There is really lovely detail to the lightly mineral-inflected flavors that exude a saline note on the balanced and delicious finish. This will be accessible young but should reward a few years in the cellar too.

The 2013 Chardonnay Estate Sta. Rita Hills is a smokingeffort that represent a fabulous value in Chardonnay. Made in a pure, cleanstyle, it was barrel-fermented and aged 8 months in neutral oak. It gives upserious notes of lemon, lime peel, tinges of wild herbs and salty minerality togo with a medium-bodied, balanced and elegant profile on the palate that keepsyou coming back to the glass. It's superb now, but will also age nicely for 3-4years. Hold onto your hats, as these latest releases from Chad Melville andwinemaker Greg Brewer are off-the-charts good! While both of the Chardonnaysare beautiful, and play in the clean, crisp and medium-bodied spectrum, it'sthe 2012 Pinot Noirs and Syrahs that are incredible across the board. The PinotNoirs all see varying degrees of whole cluster and are aged completely inneutral French oak barrels. The Syrahs see slightly less whole clusterinclusion, but are also aged all in neutral French oak. In case you missed theprices/scores listed above, these are some of the greatest values in the worldof wine today!

The
wines of Orin Swift come to us from the genius of David Phinney. Phinney is
undoubtedly one of the great young creative minds in all of wine. Many of you
will know him from the hugely successful wine Orin Swift The Prisoner. Phinney
is not only making some of the finest in California but is also making wine all
over the world with huge success. The man has the Midas touch when it comes to
blending wine and the guy is fanatical when it comes to quality declassifying
vintage after vintage if he is not happy. He makes big, rich, hedonistic style
reds of the highest order. I have been touting the greatness of the 2013
vintage in Napa. It is a truly great vintage of our time getting 98pts by
Parker the highest rating he has ever given a vintage and all the experts
agree. Today I have Phinney's spectacular 2013
Orin Swift Mannequin Chardonnaythat
got a monster 96pts by Parkerand is by far the highest scoring California
white in ages by Parker. The wine is sourced from very carefully selected site
from all over Northern California. Phinney just destroyed it in 2013 with this
wine. The wine is 76% Chardonnay with small amounts of white Rhone varietals to
add even more weight and richness to this white. If you love rich, round Cali
Chard this wine will blow you away and matched with the price, an absolute
run-away buy.

96pts Parker

Parker,
“The 2013 Proprietary White Mannequin, which draws fruit from diverse regions
of Northern California such as the Carneros Basin and the Sonoma Coast, is
actually a blend of 76% Chardonnay, 8% Viognier, 6% Marsanne, 5% Grenache
Blanc, 3% Muscat and 2% Roussanne. This is amazing wine, a gorgeous,
full-throttle, honeyed wine with a light-gold color, oodles of tropical fruits
including pineapple and mango, rose petal and floral notes, and beautifully
integrated oak (aged in 40% new French oak on its lees for 11 months). It is a magnificent,
full-throttle, exuberant dry white to drink over the next 3-4 years.
Dave Phinney, better known for his winery called Orin Swift, is one of the more
creative young minds in all of the world’s winedom. He is doing things that are
far beyond his modest age and deserves to be commended for the brilliant
individuality/singularity of all of his efforts.”

Dazzling straw-gold in color, the wine serves up
superrich aromas of ripe pineapple, vanilla bean, raw coconut, and honeyed
lemon. The entry is supremely lush with complex flavors of roasted fig,
apricot, green apple, and orchard fruit. Further, the wine’s energetic profile
leads to stunning mineral notes, flint, exotic spice, and lemongrass framed in
roasted marshmallow. The abundant richness remains through the finish with clarity
and length, while supported with a youthful brightness.

I
managed to get in some of these wines back in 2012 and have never been able to
get any until now. I tasted on Thursday and I was as impressed as ever.

Wow!
What a find and from the most unexpected place. These are the most exciting
new wines I have tasted this year. After some twenty years of doing this,
it is very rare that I am blown away by something new and different. I have
tasted and know the great wines of the world and once in a long while some new
wines come up from a region that I have not looked at for many years that
simply blow the doors off. I learnt about these wines through a great friend. I
was able to sit down with John Streicker, property owner and businessman
extraordinaire to try his wines. I must tell you this happens to me quite
frequently, somebody who knows somebody starts making wine, buys a winery,
starts importing some wine and I am called in to taste these new master pieces
that are truly unbelievable and the wines are pretty much always disappointing.
I am forced to smile and thank them, so as not to insult them in any way and
send them on their way.

This
time however the opposite happened, the wines were brilliant! Mr. Streicker has
interests all over the world. While in College back in the day, he one a
competition that allowed him to spend some time in South Africa where he
learned about the unique flower, the Protea which is the national flower of
South Africa. Later on he realized there was a worldwide demand for the flower
and set up Protea farms along the Margaret River area of Australia, yes
Australia in Western Australia. He later decided to plant vineyards, three
different single vineyards and make wine. He hired Napa’s Niebaum-Coppola ‘s
winemaker to make the wines, Bruce Dukes and the results are outstanding. I
have always been a big believer in the wines of the Margaret River, much cooler
than the South Eastern Australian wines we are all more familiar and the result
is wines that have much more balance and structure, spectacular fruit but will
also age brilliantly.

Decanter World Wine Awards; 95pts James HallidayThe
Old Vine Chardonnay displays perfumes of lime blossom, acacia flowers,
grapefruit, hazelnut and the most subtle brioche highlight this wine. The
palate is textured and lengthy, yet remains precise and focused due to an
oyster shell type of minerality and succulent acidity. Flavors of white pear, grapefruit
and wet granite. The wine shows clear pedigree lines to the 2006, 2007, 2008,
2009 & 2010 vintages.

Bright,
pale yellow. Lemon, lime, crushed rock and white pepper on the nose. A
seamless, slightly soft midweight with a touch of calcaire enlivening its
flavors of peach, lemon, mint and fresh herbs. More Puligny than Meursault in
character, which is not always the case for this premier cru. Galloni

Here
the nose is markedly more floral than that of the Perrières but is otherwise
quite similar. The exceptionally well-detailed and highly energetic flavors
possess a highly seductive and generously proportioned mouth feel before
concluding in a refined, palate coating and gorgeously persistent finish. This
is very classy and impeccably well-balanced juice that in contrast to many
wines in the range should be accessible on the younger side. BH